Northmen fall to Chief despite strong running game

Yet, at the end of the day, Petoskey does have something - actually, a number of things - on which to hang its hat despite a 29-0 non-league high school football loss at Cheboygan on Friday.

"It's hard to put your finger on it," said Petoskey coach Kerry VanOrman, slowly shaking his head outside the Northmen locker room after the game. "It's a fine line, it's just a fine line."

The Northmen fumbled the ball away four times - three of which came deep in their own territory in the first half and led directly to Cheboygan touchdowns and a 22-0 deficit - and twice came excruciatingly close to finishing long drives with touchdowns in the second half.

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"Turnovers, when two teams are pretty evenly matched, that's what's going to win and lose the game," VanOrman said. "We didn't help our defense in the first half."

The Northmen, who play at home against Sault Ste. Marie, 3-2, in a non-league game on Friday, Sept. 30, were quite charitable in the first half as the Chiefs, 3-1, recovered Northmen fumbles at the Petoskey 20-, 34- and 23-yard lines. The Chiefs used a total of nine plays in their three short first-half TD drives.

"Those turnovers allowed us to get the field position and that was oh-so important in this game," said Cheboygan coach Jack Coon, whose team failed to score five times inside the opponent's 20-yard line the previous game against the Sault. "It picked up the spirits of the kids, obviously. We kicked ourselves five times last week. We didn't want to do that again this week.

"I will not make any bones about it. I'll take the breaks."

Down 22-0, Petoskey played inspired football in the third quarter, driving from its own 43 to the Cheboygan 3-yard line early in the third quarter, then going from midfield to Cheboygan's 1-inch line early in the fourth.

Both times, however, were stymied on fourth down with the goal line agonizingly within reach.

"It's just very disappointing for the kids, I think, not to be able to put the ball in the end zone," VanOrman said. "We came out in the third quarter and did what we wanted to do, and they did it perfectly, and we just didn't finish it.

"When you're down 22-0, that's real gut-check time. These kids, I'm proud of the way they came out and responded; they took the ball down and drove it, just like we had talked about doing (at halftime).

"And then, after not making it, they come back and drive down again in the same fashion. I was proud of them in that aspect (but) I don't want them to be satisfied because we haven't finished anything yet. But if we score there, this could be a whole different game."

Petoskey senior Andy Strobel had by far his best game of the season, rushing for 137 yards on 17 carries to lead Petoskey.

"Whatever coach VanOrman said to them (at halftime), they took it to heart because they shoved it right down our throats," Coon said. "You can see what they can do, and we're a pretty good defensive team."

The Northmen finished with 202 yards rushing, but just 4 - on one Jordan Chopp-to-Chad Ellis completion - through the air.

And Petoskey's rushing totals would have been all the more impressive, and, perhaps the outcome of the game may have been different, had it not been for 49 yards in losses on three poor center snaps when Petoskey was in the shotgun formation. Two of those snaps were recovered by the Chiefs, and another Petoskey fumble was also recovered by Cheboygan.

"We've talked about running the ball all year and we haven't been able to do it consistently," VanOrman said. "(Friday), that was our offense. Unfortunately, we couldn't throw the ball a little bit to balance it off, which is what you want to do as an offensive team.

"Those bad snaps were huge. We take away those mistakes and finish our (second-half) drives, we're in this ballgame."

Three Chief running backs - Justin Dann, Daniel Hudak and Justun Case - combined for 206 yards on 36 carries as Cheboygan finished with 342 total yards, all but 76 of which came on the ground.

Dann made Petoskey pay for its first fumble, scoring on a 1-yard run with 5 minutes, 1 second remaining in the first quarter to cap the Chiefs' 20-yard drive. Dann ran for the two-point conversion to make it 8-0.

The Chiefs recovered Petoskey's second fumble at the Northmen 34 and, two plays later, sophomore quarterback Brady Lafrinere connected with Stephen Tallman on a 19-yard TD pass play and Lafrinere ran for the conversion to make it 16-0 with 9:07 left in the half.

Petoskey's third first-half fumble was recovered by the Chiefs at the Petoskey 23. Four plays later, Lafrinere - who completed 6-of-9 passes on the night - hooked up with Martin Korte on a 12-yard TD pass to make it 22-0 with 27.3 seconds left in the half.

Still, the Northmen came back strong, moving from their own 43 to Cheboygan's 4-yard line on the first drive of the third quarter. But the Chief defense stiffened, stopping Chopp on fourth-down-and-goal at the 3.